Mobile Apps introduced for example by Apple iOS & Google Android are becoming increasing popular today. App developers distribute their app using different content distribution methods and channels. In order to increase sales it is advantageous for app developers to determine which are the distribution methods or channels delivering the best results. For example, by determining which of the distribution methods of apps provide more users, more loyal users, higher ROI (Return on Investment) and higher LTV (Life Time Value). However, such information is currently limited.
According to one typical scenario a user is exposed to an ad of a respective app at one location, clicks on the ad and is then redirected to another location where the app can be downloaded. Tracking methods used in the World Wide Web (WWW) are not applicable in the world of native apps. For example, native apps lack access to cookies and are unable to track app promotional campaigns such as advertisements (or “ad”) campaigns. In addition, these apps are available for download mainly from proprietary stores, such as Apple iTunes App Store, and Google Play (formerly known as Android Market) as opposed to WWW. Therefore, tracing the location of the media source, advertizing a given mobile app, which was used by a user of the app becomes a complicated task.
App developers often relay on guesswork based on the periodic sales reports generated by the Stores which enable to download apps. For example, information indicating the number of new users joined through a campaign (a campaign representing a certain type of distribution method or channel) is obtained from calculating the number of new users the developer gained in addition to his normal daily average without running campaigns.
This approach has many limitations such as: a developer can run only a single campaign at a time, the accuracy level is low and it is difficult to imply a crediting process for crediting media sources. Thus, developers are shooting in all directions, without any concrete knowledge regarding which app distribution method provides better results in attracting new users to their mobile apps.
There is thus a need in the art for a new technology enabling to associate between a media source advertizing a given app and a respective app event performed in respect of the given app, in order to determine efficiency of different mobile apps distribution channels and/or methods.